The National tribune., 1887-10-06
SOME CURIOUS FACTS ABOUT NEWS
PAPER CALCULATIONS.

have just issued a pamphlet containing some
curious statistics relative 10 newspaper cir
culations in the United States. The infor-
nation has been collected with great care
after 20 years experience in this kind of
work, and is undoubtedly the most complete
and reliable 10 be obtained in this field of
investigation. 1t appears that there are
printed in this country, all told, Is, ,420 Pc
riodicals, of which 11,614 are weekly, 1,739
monthly and 1897 daily; the rest being
semi-weekly, semi-monthly, etc. New York
leads with ,59l publications of all kinds,
Illinois second with ] ,1i9 and Pennsylvania
close third with 1,13s All the rest are
below 1000, of which Nevada is at the
foot with but 80, being one below Delaware.
The most remarkable feature revealed by
the inquiry is the smalIness of the circula-
ton Of the great bulk Of the publications,
while the large circulations are embraced in
very small list. OF the entire Is, 420 only
l3, including dailies, monthlies and week
lies, print 10000 regularly each issue, and
only - print 100000. There are Of the en-
tire number but 119 that print even 10000
copies regularly, and from this point the
downward scale is rapid. The average num-
Der Of copies of one edition of every periOdi-
cal is found to be only 1856.
1t is shown that TO reach one-fourth Of all
the newspaper readers of the country it is
only necessary TO put an announcement in
the comparatively small number of 1l2 pub
lications, while to reach one-hGG of all the
readers only 691 of the Is, APO need be taken.
The total circulation of one issue of all
the publications is shown to be 80, 165, $50,
and of this number the weeklies have over
half, or 17,946,25O; the monthlies come next
with 6,o5s,250 and the dailies 4,772,500.
The circulations of all the other classes fall
below the million mark.
1t is curious TO note that while the total
circulation Of the weeklies is nearly three
times that of the monthlies and four times
that of the dailies, the acreage circulation of
the weeklies is less than half of either month
lies, semi-monthlies or dailies. Curiously
again, the Average of each of the three last
named is very nearly the same. In other
words, the acreage issue of all the weeklies
is but 1916, while the average of the month
lies is 3,4S3, of the semi-monthlies 3,464,
and Of the dailies 3,4l6.
In the face of such showing of what is
the actual average issue of the publications
of the country, the conspicuous position OF
such paper as THE NATIONAL TRIBUNE
becomes apparent. While the average edi-
tion Of all the weeklies of the United States
is shown to be 1,545, the average issue OF
THE NATIONAL TRIBUNE for last year, for
example, was over $4,000 copies. This in
cluded certain extra editions issued upon
occasions warranting the unusual circulation
Better than the Average, however, eliminating
all special issues from the calculation, is the
fact that we have to-day yearly subscrip-
tion list Of 10000 in round numbers. Fol-
the current year the smallest issue has been
that of June Q, of 12i, ,s75, every other issue
being in excess of 125,OOO. This is record
of which the friends of the paper may
well feel proud. To print 10000 copies
Of THE NATIONAL TRIBUNE requires about
eight tons of white paper every week
while 10 hold the names and addresses o.
the subscribers alone set in type, require;
176 large galleys 16 by 30 inches, the mail
ing being done by machinery, as well as tn,
printing.
: 1t has been estimated that five persons
read, on the average, every copy of a weekly
newspaper, so that single regular issut
of THE NATIONAL TRIBUNE is now reaC
: by the vast number of 650,OOO persons, ant
the regular issues for year are read b,
33,S00000 people, host almost equal to tn
population of Great Britain and Ireland
5 and over half the population of the Unite'
: States now, and not far from the entir
population of the country at the breaking
: out Of the war of the rebellion. 1t equal
the population Of the Empire of Japar
D and almost that of Austria-Hungary O
: Of France. II is more than IL time
the number Of the reputed strength {
a the greatest army ever assembled, th
i force with which Xerxes started to in
wade Greece, and IL times the populs
ton Of the United States at the date of th
Declaration of OfIndependence. This phenom,
n nal pre-eminence in the face of the shar
= competition among the publishers of to-da
e has not been gained without earnest ellor
e 1t has been attained also by fidelity to tt
'e cause il believes to be one Of supreme mC
ie ment to the people of this Nation-the eau,
y of the veteran Union soldiers, whose seryic.
il has become the fashion in too many qua
ters TO belittle.
There was a demand for just such a sturd
he publication as THE NATIONAL TRIBUNE
fling back in defiance the swelling CT